Meta Runner
| writer = | director = | voices = | producer = | opentheme = "Always Running", written and composed by AJ DiSpirito; vocals by MattxAJ | endtheme = "Breeze", written and composed by AJ DiSpirito; vocals by KIMI | runtime = 11-20 Minutes | num_seasons = 1 (a second season is currently in production) | num_episodes = 10 | company = | distributor = Glitch Productions | country = Australia | network = | first_aired = | last_aired = | related = SMG4 | website_title = https://www.youtube.com/user/supermarioglitchy4 | production_website = http://smg4.com/ }}Meta Runner is an Australian computer animated web television series created and developed by Glitch Productions, which is also known for a YouTube machinima web series called SMG4 that parodies the Nintendo franchise Super Mario with internet memes, YouTubers, etc. Meta Runner is the first completely animated series developed by the company and was co-produced by American distributor, publisher, and licensing company Crunchyroll, video game and software development company Epic Games and multinational semiconductor company AMD. The series was met with critical acclaim and has become a major breakthrough for Australia in the animation market. Set in a futuristic world centered around video games, the series follows Tari, an amnesiac cyborg girl who discovers she has the uncanny ability to warp into video games. She and fellow video game character Theo are pursued by Lucks, the CEO of an esports company named TASCorp, and his prize meta runner Belle Fontiere, who both want to use her to benefit the organization. Along the way, Tari meets the MD-5, a group of meta runners who plan to take down TASCorp. Meta Runner is currently available to watch on YouTube, Crunchyroll and the 9Go! channel network. Premise Setting Meta Runner takes place in a futuristic world where society is now run by video game culture, serving as not just entertainment, but also jobs in livestreaming. Among the gamers are “Meta Runners”, a group of gaming individuals who replace their limbs with cybernetic arms that allow the user to boost their gaming performance. People are required to be a gamer in order to adapt to society. Plot Season One Tari is a meta runner who was put through a lot of training for a science experiment code-named Project Blue led by a scientist, Dr. Sheridan, who was working for the TAS Corp. organization. However, a sudden accident causes an explosion, killing him along with a former meta runner, Lucinia, inside the laboratory. After waking up in the now abandoned and wrecked establishment, Tari finds herself in a Silica City with no memory of what happened, except for a few flashbacks. After witnessing a speedrunning tournament of Ultra Jump Mania performed by TAS Corp. meta runner, Belle Fontiere, Tari decides to play the game for herself, but as she continues to play, she suddenly finds herself inside the game where she meets and befriends the game’s protagonist, Theo. Back in the real world, upon discovering Tari’s newfound ability to teleport into video games, Lucks, the head of TAS Corp. plans to use her to benefit the organization. After Tari and Theo get sucked out of the game, they attempt to escape, but Tari gets captured. Theo escapes and is found by another meta runner, Lamar Williams, who rescues and takes both of them to a ramen restaurant. Inside is a hidden base where they meet up with two other meta runners, Sofia Porter and Masa Shimamoto; the three collectively refer to themselves as the MD-5, a small undercover group that tried to put an end to TAS Corp. by exposing the organization's cruel actions to the public, but to no avail. The MD-5 then invites Tari to join them, citing that with her help, they'll finally be able to put an end to Lucks' evil affairs once and for all. Season Two TBA. Voice Cast Protagonists * Tari (voiced by Celeste Notley-Smith) - A shy and insecure meta runner who was part of an experiment called Project Blue until an explosion occurs, killing several of the lab's inhabitants. She somehow survived the disaster but lost all of her memories as a result. She has the uncanny ability to warp into video games. * Theo (voiced by Robyn Barry-Cotter) - The protagonist of Ultra Jump Mania who encounters and befriends Tari after she stumbles upon his home in "Simple Flip Island"; he gets sucked out of the game and into the real world with Tari when Lucks' scientists try to experiment on her. Supporting Characters * Sofia Porter (voiced by Hayley Nelson) - A cheerful and upbeat girl who is a member of the MD-5 and Tari's friend. In the final episode of season one, it is revealed that Lucinia was Sofia's sister and Sofia became devastated upon realizing her death. * Lamar Williams (voiced by Anthony Sardinha) - An African-American meta runner who is a member of the MD-5 and also one of Tari's friends who rescued both her and Theo from Lucks. Lamar owns a couple of body pillows and says some phrases is Japanese, to show his interest in Japanese culture. * Masa Shimamoto (voiced by Brendan Barry-Cotter) - A no-nonsense emo meta runner who is the leader of the MD-5 and one of Tari's allies. He used to be the team captain for TAS Corp. but later decommissioned for hacking into the company's private server upon realizing Lucks was responsible for Lucinia's death. Antagonists * Lucks (voiced by David J.G. Doyle) - The sociopathic and abusive head of TAS Corp. organization. He wants to capture Tari so he can extract her newfound ability and use it to benefit his company. * Belle Fontiere (voiced by Jessica Fallico) - A cocky Meta Runner who is a representative of TAS Corp. and Tari’s rival. Minor Characters * Dr. Sheridan (voiced by Anthony Sardinha) - A scientist who was working for TAS Corp. and made Tari into a meta runner, putting her through a lot of training for Project Blue until his unfortunate demise along with Lucinia in a sudden lab explosion. *Lucinia Porter (voiced by Amber Lee Connors) - The late meta runner and TAS Corp. member who was Belle's best friend and sister of Sofia Porter (as revealed in the episode, Shutdown). She was Dr. Sheridan's assistant on Project Blue and was killed alongside him in a lab explosion. *Afro-Bot (voiced by Kevin Lerdwichagul) - A robot who works as a salesman at the gaming store of the TAS Corp. organization. *Ramen-Bot (voiced by Kevin Lerdwichagul) - A robot who works as a chef at the ramen restaurant where Tari and the MD-5 live. *Male Civilian (voiced by James Rallison) - One of the citizens of Silica City who was fascinated with Tari along with other people. Background and Production As revealed in a video uploaded by Luke and Kevin Lerdwichagul on February 14, 2019, the concept of Tari’s character started when Kevin and Luke Lerdwichagul asked their young sister, Tish, who was drawing in her sketchbook, if she had any ideas for a new character to add to their channel’s titular machinima series; she drew a “gamer girl” character who would become Tari. The first early design of Tari was for her to be a robot instead of a cyborg, with a similar hairstyle to Sofia Porter, an antenna on top of her head, headphones, a simple jacket with a love heart stitched onto it and a d-pad for her right eye. The second early design is the same as the first one but with a few upgrades. The second design had short blue hair with the fringe covering her right eye, a different hooded jacket with a front pocket, the love heart still there and her name stitched on the back. She also had been given sandals. Kevin and Luke showed the design to their employee, Jared and gave him a test to draw Tari; he did it in a detailed and anime-styled design. Eventually, Tari was redesigned as a human cyborg with a white vest with the meta-runner emblem which was based on the blue jay’s wing, two human eyes, a cybernetic arm, and sand brown trousers. She was also given a blue hoodie with blue jay wing patterns on each shoulder starting from "Sequence Break" (episode 4). While Tari in Meta Runner is given a 3D anime-like appearance, Tari in the SMG4 machinima series is given a Puyo Puyo Tetris art style. Tari made her debut in the SMG4 episode, Mario The Ultimate Gamer which was uploaded on August 25, 2018, and has since become a major character to the series. Tari is voiced by Australian actress Celeste Notley-Smith, who also voiced her in SMG4. At the end of War Of The Fat Italians 2018 (an episode of the traditional sub-series for SMG4), a teaser for Meta Runner was played, showing Tari playing a video game with her cybernetic arm being the only part of her shown. Two other teasers were played near the end of two episodes of, Mario and the Bob Mansion and SMG4: The Mario Concert. On December 5, 2018, the official trailer was uploaded to YouTube. On May 30, 2019, SMG4 uploaded Tari’s Live Stream, an animated short to promote the upcoming series. On June 25, 2019, it was announced that Meta Runner would be funded by the unlikely pairing of Screen Australia, Epic Games and AMD. On July 20, 2019, Glitch Productions announced that they had partnered with Crunchyroll to produce the series. The series is animated using both Autodesk Maya and Unreal Engine which is the first time Glitch Productions is using more complicating animation software, as Luke and Kevin just use Garry's Mod for SMG4. Episodes Season 1 (2019) | Viewers = 1.3M+ views | ShortSummary = Tari, an amnesiac, wakes up in an empty laboratory and finds herself in Silica City where society is centered around gaming. As she wanders around the city, Tari comes across a gaming equipment store of the TAS Corp. organization and gets some information about her location from the store’s robotic salesman. Tari then notices an Esports event in a small arena where TAS Corp.'s number one speedrunner, Belle Fontiere, is attempting to set a new world record in Ultra Jump Mania by using a glitch to get to the final goalpost but fails. As Belle storms off in frustration while the crowd leaves in disappointment, an intrigued Tari takes up the controller and decides to play the game herself. However, as she continues to play, her eyes suddenly glow blue and she goes into a trance, suddenly finding herself inside the video game. Back in the real world, Belle calls in Lucks and the two get into an argument about Belle’s failed performance before turning their attentions to Tari. The game screen starts working again, showing Tari in the game, much to their surprise. Lucks immediately calls in all his scientist workers to investigate. }} | Viewers = 1M+ views | ShortSummary = After being teleported into Ultra Jump Mania, Tari encounters the game's protagonist, Theo; he initially thinks Tari is a boss enemy until she convinces the boy she's human. Tari goes through the game's area with Theo, battling palm tree monsters and learning that she can perform in-game tricks through hints projected in her vision. Meanwhile, in the real world, the head of TAS Corp., Lucks, gets a few scientists to examine Tari while Belle is required to evacuate the customers. Eventually, Lucks communicates with Tari inside the game from the real world in the form of a recoloured Theo. Tari suddenly goes through pain as scientists begin to experiment on her arm. With a huge burst of energy, Tari gets sucked out of the game and back in the real world with Theo, who somehow got sucked out of the game too. }} | Viewers = 777K+ views | ShortSummary = Once Tari and Theo are in the real world, Lucks attempts to manipulate Tari into working for TAS Corp. but Tari refuses and escapes with Theo. Lucks decides to let his scientists pursue Tari and Theo, since letting Belle and himself do so would lead to suspicion among the press. As Tari and Theo escape through the city, they go inside a cybercafe with each gamer livestreaming inside a streaming pod. They try to hide in one of the streaming pods, but their cover is blown when Theo starts to stream, catching Belle's attention. The two then get separated in different rooms, but while Theo escapes, Tari is eventually caught by Belle and is taken into the TAS Corp. van to be sent to Lucks. Theo is then approached by an unidentified man who says, "Don't worry little man. I got this.", as the episode ends. }} | Viewers = 662K+ views | ShortSummary = Tari and Belle are in the TAS Corp. van, where Belle attempts to calm down the frightened Meta-Runner, while also explaining that games are the only things that make someone matter. Suddenly, a car bashes into the van, and Theo pops up out of it, telling Tari to get in. Lucks arrives, but the car proceeds to escape the scene when he does so. Lucks then orders Belle in his car to drive, and thus a chase begins. The car's driver, Lamar, tells Tari to put on a blue hoodie, as he and his friends saw Lucks put a tracker in her arm, which explains why Belle was able to track down Tari so easily. Unfortunately, this doesn't stop Lucks, as he has a gunman at the back of his car to shoot down Lamar's car with electromagnetic bullets. He even orders some policemen to block off a road to corner Tari, Theo, and Lamar. As Lamar is about to give up, Tari suddenly notices a trash can and billboard before taking over the wheel (or in this case, remote control), ramming into the trash can and telling Theo to throw the lid at the billboard. The billboard falls, and Tari uses it as a ramp to get over the barrier. Tari, Theo, and Lamar then reach a ramen restaurant, with Lamar taking the other two in the back to meet Sofia and Masa. Though Sofia is enthusiastic about meeting Tari and Theo, Masa walks away scowling. }} | Viewers = 597K+ views | ShortSummary = Lamar and Sofia introduce Tari and Theo to the MD-5, inviting her to join them in their mission to take down TAS Corp. due to the amount of lives that were ruined by the organization. They then explain they were spying on Lucks to get intel on him until Tari came along and changed everything. Masa re-enters the room, refusing to let Tari join the group unless she proves herself worthy by beating him in an FPS video game, Battle Blaze. After a rocky start where Tari gets easily defeated several times, Sofia sends Tari into the game and Masa helps her learn how to use her powers. Meanwhile, Belle is tasked by Lucks to go and check out an old research lab, much to her chagrin. Back at MD-5 as Tari begins to get the hang of the controls, Theo somehow appears inside the game and helps Tari defeat Masa by using his banana mines. Although Masa feels that Tari still has a lot to learn about her powers, he accepts and welcomes Tari into their group, but Theo suddenly starts to glitch due to being out of his game for too long. Masa deduces he needs to get back into an Ultra Jump Mania game cartridge right away. Back in the isolated lab, Belle is complaining about searching the room until she finds a microSD card with files from Project Blue; upon putting the card into her cybernetic arm, she discovers all of the video diaries by Dr. Sheridan. }} | Viewers = 602K+ views | ShortSummary = Inside the Ultra Jump Mania cartridge, Tari prepares to bid Theo farewell while insisting that she'll visit him every so often, but they notice another Theo and get forced out of the game due it's confusion. MD-5 realizes that Theo needs his own cartridge, which is at the speedrunning arena, meaning Lucks already has his hands on it. Masa asks Sofia if she remembers "Operation: Silent Demon", but Lamar suddenly protests the idea due to its difficulty and danger. A minor argument ensues before Masa says for everyone else to sleep on it. Meanwhile, at the lab, Belle watches a couple of video diaries by Dr. Sheridan, giving information on Project Blue until she sees a video of the explosion that killed him and is distraught upon realizing that her friend Lucinia was also killed. The next morning at the ramen restaurant, Sofia and Masa explain "Operation: Silent Demon" to Tari and Theo: an upcoming competition will be run on TAS Corp's servers, meaning if a game crashes, the servers will do so as well, allowing Sofia to hack the servers and expose TAS Corp's schemes to the public. Thanks to Tari's ability to go inside a game, she could execute a glitch to make the game and servers crash. Upon extracting the information, not only will MD-5 take down TAS Corp. for good, but they'll also get Theo's cartridge back to send him home. Lamar continues to berate the idea, stating that it would be far too risky and would result in Lucks getting Tari and the MD-5 arrested if they were to fail, but after some persuasion by Masa, he reluctantly agrees. Masa then tells Tari to go into the gaming room, so he can teach her the glitch in the small time-frame they have left (less than a week) and Sofia informs her that the game Tari will be practising in is a battle-royale game called Tempest. Back with Lucks, he attempts to play Theo's cartridge, but it crashes without its main character, and Belle arrives to show him the footage. Upon watching the footage, Lucks's earlier assumption that Sheridan intentionally blew up the lab to "cover his failures" has been disproven. Lucks then gets an idea to use the same controller Sheridan used when the lab exploded, and this time, Ultra Jump Mania shows a Project Blue logo. Note: The series was put on a three-week hiatus after the episode was released. }} | Viewers = 91K+ views | ShortSummary = Tari is inside Tempest along with Theo, Masa and Lamar, preparing to learn the glitch to shut down TAS Corp's servers during the tournament through some training on the game's level called: "The Mountains". Masa and Sofia explain that there are spell books scattered all over the area, giving a special ability to any player who finds one. Tari is then given the "windburn" spell book which causes her to be flung into the sky and fall so hard that it causes the game to crash. When Tari exits the game, she gets confused by what just happened and Sofia explains that it was part of the glitch dubbed "The Deep Mountain Clip" and that in order to pull it off, Tari must hit the ground from the top of a mountain at 55 kilometres per hour and at a 36 degree angle. Masa tells Tari that it was easy for her to do so because they were in training mode with nobody attacking her and that Sofia was altering her speed and angle. Sofia takes Tari back into the game and tells her to use the windburn spell to get to the top of the mountain. When Tari gets to the top, Sofia instructs her to jump off. It takes a while for Tari to execute the glitch without Sofia altering her (and she momentarily loses her confidence as a result), but she does it successfully. However, Masa instructs her to keep practicing, as she will only have one chance to get it right during the tournament and she will face an onslaught of enemy attacks during this. Meanwhile, Belle somberly remembers her late friend, Lucinia, as Lucks continues to work on Theo's cartridge. He then explains to Belle that there is no record of Project Blue on TAS Corp.'s database and assigns Belle on a mission to hunt down Tari. As Belle leaves, Lucks enables the firewall to prevent Sofia from hacking into the company's database. }} | Viewers = 116K+ views | ShortSummary = At the TAS Corp. tournament, Tari, Theo, and the members of MD-5 are inside Tempest, fighting off enemy attacks so that Tari can pull off the game-crashing glitch. MD-5 is unaware that Lucks enabled the firewall, while Lamar notices Tari seemingly distracted and off her game. The gang retreats to an alcove with no enemies, but they are soon spotted. Masa comes to their aid, giving the group an opportunity to climb the mountain and make the glitch occur. }} | Viewers = 171K+ views | ShortSummary = At the mountains, Tari and the MD-5 engage in a battle with a group of competitors from the last episode. Lamar and Theo take down the two of the rival players with a move they call: “the arochi formation”, but as one of them is about to eliminate Tari, Theo comes in and takes the attack to defend her, resulting in him getting eliminated. Tari eventually eliminates the player, and the gang continue their way onto the top of the mountain. Meanwhile, it turns out the leader of the group of competitors was Belle who is at the undercover Esports competition, trying to foil the MD-5’s plan. Lucks calls Belle, expressing disappoint at how she and her team failed to eliminate Tari and the MD-5, but Belle brings up how incompetent his employees were before continuing with the mission. Back with Tari and the MD-5 at the top of the mountain, Tari prepares to perform the glitch, but she is caught off guard by an oncoming fireball which hits Lamar, eliminating him. Belle shows up, much to Tari and Masa's shock, and blocks Tari’s attempt to jump off the mountain. Belle then reveals that Masa used to be TAS Corp.’s team captain who got decommissioned for trying to hack into Lucks’ private server. Masa then tries to bring up the truth that Lucks was responsible for Lucinia’s death. Masa and Belle proceed to fight, during which Tari gets trapped by a fallen pillar. Belle tries to eliminate her but Masa comes in and fights off each of her attacks with a machete. However, his cybernetic arm overloads and gets him eliminated. Belle then approaches Tari and says: “Let’s talk!” as she begins to interrogate her. }} | Viewers = 142K+ views | ShortSummary = As the interrogation continues, Belle accuses Tari of being responsible for Lucinia's death; though Tari tries to explain that she had no remembrance of the events, Belle doesn't buy it and proceeds to torture Tari for information. In the gaming pod, Theo gives Tari some motivation and she agrees to tell Belle everything she knows, but it was a ploy to get Tari free so she could execute the glitch. She fends off Belle's attacks to successfully make the glitch occur, causing the entire tournament to stop with everyone at the event being evacuated. Masa expresses how proud he is of Tari; Lamar quickly compliments her before telling the gang they need to leave immediately, but they are met by Lucks and his crew. During the ensuing confrontation, Masa's cybernetic arm gets ripped off as Lucks reveals he knew about MD-5's attempt to hack TAS Corp.'s servers. He points a gun at Masa's head, giving Sofia an ultimatum to show herself. Masa urges her not to give up what they had worked so hard to accomplish, but she decides that Masa's life is more important. As Sofia enters the arena, it is revealed that Lucinia was her sister, and she forcefully asks Belle to show her what happened to her sister. Belle shows her the footage of the lab explosion and openly states her belief that Tari killed Lucinia. Tari then notices Theo's game cartridge and Lucks reveals that he purposefully freed Theo to spy on the MD-5. This makes Theo go after Lucks, as Tari offers to work for TAS Corp. in exchange for MD-5's freedom. Lucks then asks Tari if she knows what "collateral" is before smashing Theo's cartridge in front of her. Theo starts to fully glitch and disappears, much to Tari’s emotional horror as she cries out for him. Lucks then puts the game cartridge’s SD card in the computer with the immobile Theo now placed inside it. He counter-offers that if Tari does not show 100% loyalty to TAS Corp. or if MD-5 reappears, then he will kill Theo. As Tari prepares to leave, the MD-5 call out to her that they’ll miss her. Tari assures them that she’ll be fine. In a post-credits scene, Belle comes across a backup copy of the footage pertaining to Lucinia's death and hides it as Sofia passes her. Lucks commands Belle to get in the van before asking for a "subject update", and it is revealed he has someone captive inside a tube, in "stable" condition. }} }} Reception Critical reception Meta Runner received general acclaim by critics and audiences (who are mostly SMG4 fans), earning a score of 9.1/10 The series was praised for its animation, characters, plot and soundtracks. However, it also received some criticism due to every episode ending on a cliffhanger. See Also * List of unofficial Mario media - SMG4, the creator of Meta Runner is mentioned on that list. *Unreal Engine - The game engine developed by Epic Games that was used to animate Meta Runner. References Category:Animated web series Category:YouTube series Category:Western web series Category:Comedy-drama television series Category:Australian web series Category:Australian comedy-drama television series * Category:Computer-animated television series Category:Animated science fiction television series Category:Television programs about video games